Mister America

This movie is something special. The fact that a little podcast turned into hours and hours of entertainment and spawned one of the best online communities makes it such a hilarious EVENT each time a new piece of the story comes out. And this movie is the biggest event of them all! Going to an actual theater and seeing it with other people just as excited as me was so unique and fun. It has that slow burn comedy that comes from Tim & Gregg's fantastic passive aggressiveness we know and love, now with Terri Parks who fits in so well and I hope we see more of her. Somehow after the ending I was left more excited - I can't wait to see Tim's reaction and how the events of the film lead into what's next for On Cinema.

San Bernardo has been plagued by crime for so long. Not only crime but bad judgement in the district attorney 's office of Rosetti. The documentary follows God fearing Tim Heidecker, host of On Cinema, as he gathers signatures for a campaign to appear on the ballot opposite of Roseti to bring justice and reform to San Bernadino. Now I gave this movie 5 bags (which translates to the arbitrary star rating of 10) but I need to explain why. Tim was cast in a bad light by a hack of a director (a man I won't even say the name of to avoid giving him any of that lime light), and this movie REEKS and you shouldn't watch it. But I did give this movie it's rating so it doesn't affect Tim negatively in his average movie rating and so that you can see the hard work of an honest man, albeit in a deceitfully portrayed way. 5 bags of popcorn and a little eraser to erase the director of this movie and his inappropriately included scenes not only from the movie, but from history.

Mister America, that stems from a large comedy universe of the "on cinema at the cinema" series, has got to be the most unique and imaginative piece of satire available at this moment. Too quickly perceived as impenetrable, given its longstanding history, the writing behind this story will very quickly show itself masterful at bringing forward very real, known and understood individual personality flaws of people,acting under the pretence of good intentions, setting off a chain of disaster for themselves and the people that surround them.

Tim has created something special here, something witty and hilarious. Mister America is a laugh out loud comedy with a purpose. The genius improvisation by Tim while interacting with real people is the shining star of this film, but the amazing story pulls it together to be a movie worth everyone's time. Even people who weren't Heidecker fans before could very much enjoy this film. It feels real, and I applaud everyone who worked on it.

This film is a part of the "On Cinema at the Cinema" universe (podcast, Adult Swim series, many spin-offs), but it holds its own even without the background stories. (For those interested, there is a primer called "Road to Mister America - 10 Minute History of On Cinema" on YouTube.)

The mock documentary covers a run by Tim Heidecker (in character) for the office of D.A. in a small town, almost entirely for the purpose of taking down the D.A. who attempted to prosecute him for murder, for which he was let off by a hung jury.

The genius of this film is the exquisitely drawn portraits of characters drowning in their neuroses. In the case of the two stars, Heidecker is the overt narcissist (we are talking textbook), Gregg Turkington the almost-sweet covert narcissist-cum-middle-age-incel. Like all great comedic portraits of psychological pathology (Eric Cartman, the Bluth family, Fleabag) the performers thread the needle that has the audience not only wanting to hang out with these guys, but feeling great affection for them despite the awfulness of it all. Terri Parks, as Toni Newman, fits right in as she matches the subtle awkwardness of Heidecker and Turkington's fumbling human interactions that make up much of the humor.

Like "Nathan For You" and "Between Two Ferns," series that also ultimately produced great movie-length projects, this is small-scale, ultra-human humor, and if you don't recognize these characters all around you or see them in yourself (I myself am part Gregg), the humor may zip over your head. Shout-out to the movie critics they are lambasting!